PSYCH 2AP3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Specific Phobia, Panic Disorder, School Refusal

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 2AP3
• Professor: Geoffrey Hall

Document Summary

Fear is a reaction to an immediate/present threat characterized by an alarm reaction. In general, anxiety and fear are viewed as a complex pattern of three types of reactions to a perceived threat: behavioural responses, cognitive responses, physiological responses. Worry thoughts about possible negative outcomes that are intrusive and difficult to control is viewed as a cognitive component of anxiety. General prevalence: children exhibit a surprisingly large number of fears, worries, parents may underestimate the prevalence of fears in their and anxieties children, particularly older children who are increasingly able to mask their emotions. Gender, age, and cultural differences: girls exhibit a greater number of fears than boys, the difference in clearer in older children, both the number of intensity of fears experienced by children decline with age. The empirical approach: a child or adolescent can be diagnosed with one or more of the, empirical systems that are based on statistical procedures have also yielded subcategories related to anxiety disorders.